And So to Cardiff…

In past years when LI have been struggling, it’s our performances in the ‘subsidiary’ competitions that have given us the clue as to where the team is. After last week’s debacle against Gloucester, I thought I’d offer myself up as the author of the match report against Cardiff to comment on what I think is going to be the shape of the rest of the season.

The game against Cardiff provided very few crumbs of comfort to the LI supporter.

We managed very few line breaks. We very rarely outflanked a well-organised Cardiff defence. And when we did get away, unlike nearly every other team in the Premiership, we were unable to recycle the ball more than three or four times before failure to control the ball in a ruck or a knock-on led to us being turned over.

I’ve always been a Brian Smith fan. I think the brand of rugby his team served up before he moved to the England coaching team was full of invention and great running rugby. But as becomes more and more obvious, he did have star material to work with then which just isn’t available at the moment.

Against Cardiff, one could not fault the level of effort given by every member of the team who played. Those who stood out for me were Scott Steele, Shane Geraghty, Blair Cowan and Tom Homer when he came on.

But Shane missed two penalties at key parts of the game and while his overall kicking has improved out of all recognition, and his pass to Jebb Sinclair in the 2nd half was a rare moment of class, failing to kick our penalties leads to dropped heads amongst the team.

The report on the Official Web Site covers the times and the scorers.

To my eye, however, nearly everything LI tried lacked conviction. This was especially true with Chris Noakes.

To play at No. 10 requires authority above everything else, and in my view he’s too much of a shrinking violet. The reason the backs outside him fail to make any breaks stems from the fact that he carries no threat.

After that, the defence rushes up on Shane at 12 leading to LI playing well behind the gain line.

So Geoff Cross’s charge-down try (after Anscombe seemed to want to wait until the 2nd half to kick the ball) was nullified by a clever chip through by Cardiff and four different LI players not making a telling tackle on Richard Smith a few minutes later.

Matthew Rees was yellow carded for two very quick penalty offences but LI failed to score any points against 14 men. When Jebb Sinclair was binned in the 2nd half, Cardiff managed 3 points and spent 10 minutes battering the LI line until Jebb’s return in the nick of time and pressure was relieved by a scrum penalty.

Cardiff scored two tries, with the first more memorable than the second. And the game finished with a penalty try for LI from a scrum after two 5-metre lineout drives were stopped illegally.

Brian Smith talks about finding a player with the X-factor. I think our early season form was down to teams not appreciating how well Shane Geraghty could play. But other teams’ analysis has identified that with Noakes playing inside him offering no threat then simply rushing Shane stops our attack.

I spent Saturday evening with the Cardiff Coach Mark Hammett at a friend’s 57th birthday dinner. With 29 All-Black caps he’s as bright a coach as I’ve met in the game and a very nice bloke to boot. I don’t expect the result this Saturday coming to be any different unless Chris Noakes gets a rocket or is not selected.

And if Mick Crossan wants to know who I am, then I’m the guy he winked at in the players’ lounge after the game!